


Love - Actually

by oddsnends



Category: Vikings (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Fluff, Holidays, holiday romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-18 03:12:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21920863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oddsnends/pseuds/oddsnends
Relationships: Hvitserk (Vikings)/Reader, Hvitserk (Vikings)/You
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	Love - Actually

“I don’t understand this movie,” Hvitserk rolled over on his back, his feet in resting in your lap. It was the same complaint every year, for the last four.

“What’s not to get? It’s a movie about strangers, whose lives connect, and they are all looking for love on Christmas.” You dodge his feet to reach for the popcorn.

There wasn’t too much to understand about Love, Actually. It was exactly as advertised. How hard was that to understand?

“Why do we have to watch this one?”

“The same reason we watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.” You ignore the whine in his voice focusing your attention to Colin Firth. “Because we can’t seem to agree on another pair of films.”

Hvitserk smirked, raising his hips to get comfortable, kicking you in the thigh and wincing. “Sorry.” he mutters, reaching out with grabby hands, trying to blindly find the peanut brittle that he’d been making a meal of.

It was the same set up every year, a tradition, by now.

You would pick an evening, going over to Hvitserk’s for movies and dinner. Settling for the same two films each year, it was a routine. Hvitserk would order way too much food from a myriad of local restaurants, stock the fridge full of beer, wine, and soft drinks. To add you would bring any and all Christmas candy, sweets, and treats that you could muster.

Sprawled out on his well loved leather sofa, the two of you would settle down in a pile of blankets, sweats, and slippers to watch your chosen entertainment.

This accidental tradition had happened when Hvitserk had been dating your former roommate. She’d invited you to accompany her, because his younger brother was in town and they didn’t want Sigurd to be a third wheel. Years later, Sigurd rarely joined you, the former roommate moved across the continent, and here you were.

“Why are all of these people so desperate, anyway?”

“Because love makes you do desperate and dramatic things?”

“I think love should be simple.” Hvitserk snorts at his ideal.

“What do you know about love? Flirting with the girl at the deli for extra dills doesn’t count.” You shove his legs from your lap and reach over to snatch the peanut brittle.

“I know enough about love.” Hvitserk sits up, resting his back against the arm of the sofa. “I know that when you love someone, you let them away with things that you otherwise wouldn’t.” he frowns watching you eat the last piece of brittle.

“Okay.”

“And I know that love is a compromise. I also know that showing up in an airport or somewhere extremely public to declare your love is stupid. What if the other person doesn’t feel that way? You’d be humiliated.” He reasons.

You nod, partly ignoring what he is rambling on about. You’re pretty sure Hvitserk has never loved anything outside of a good pizza and maybe his dog.

“Right.”

“I mean, I know that when I am in love, I do everything to keep that person near." 

"Uhuh.”

“Love doesn’t always look like it does in the movies.” Hvitserk is paying less and less attention to the story on the screen. He’s watched it enough times, he could probably recite it.

“Obviously.” the word is muffled around a mouthful of peanut brittle, crushed into a handful of popcorn.

Huffing, Hvitserk folded his arms across his chest, glaring at the movie. If love were like it was in movies or books, then he wouldn’t be sitting here being ignored.

Nudging you with his foot, Hvitserk lazily rested his head to the side, waiting for you to give him more attention. There were times when he was like a needy puppy, always wanting someone to play with him.

“Hvit, stop.” You scold, playfully pushing his foot off of your arm.

“Well?”

“Well what?”

“I told you what I know about love. So, tell me, what do you think love is?” The grin on his face growing. He was waiting to mock you, never passing the chance to rib you over silly things.

“The movie is almost over.” diverting the attention didn’t work, Hvitserk shrugged. You’d saw the movie enough to know how it ends. “Fine, alright.”

Sitting straighter on the couch, you take the bait. In the window behind Hvitserk you can see the twinkling Christmas lights in the glass, reflecting from the decorations around the house. A few lights creating a halo effect around his dark blond hair.

“Love should be fun and scary. If you really love the other person, then it should terrify you. Love should consume you, but never to the point you lose yourself.”

On the tv screen the characters reunited in the airport, moments before the credits took over, and Hvitserk learned in closer. His eyes dancing with mirth.

“I like that.” He nods in approval. “Do you think you’ve ever been in love?”

What a question.

Hvitserk knew the answer.

You’d gone on and on about this a million times.

“No. What about you?”

“Yes.” Your brows raise in surprise. This was news. “I mean, I think the answer is yes.”

“Either it is or it isn’t.”

“Yes. I mean…” shaking his head, Hvitserk bit his bottom lip. “No. I mean yes. The answer is yes.”

“Alright, well now I am curious.” You gently slap his leg, prompting him for all the juicy details.

What’s her name? Where’s she from? Why had you never met her? Was she nice? And who did he think he was falling over some woman, when he’d never so much as asked your opinion.

Was she prettier than you? Did she know he felt this way? How did she feel about him? She’d be crazy not to adore Hvitserk.

“It’s not important. Should I put in the next one?” Hvitserk slid his feet into his favourite penguin slippers, before walking to the entertainment console to switch dvds.

“It is important, if you’re in love, I need the details. If it were me, I’d give you the details.”

“No you wouldn’t.” Hvitserk countered, taking out one dvd and swapping it for another. “Anyway, I don’t want to get into that tonight. Can we finish this and just enjoy?”

“I guess.”

Situating himself back on the couch, his penguin slippers handy, his gaze rested on the television.

“I love this movie.” Hvitserk smiled at the nostalgia. “I’ve lost count how many times Ubbe and I have watched it.”

“How does he feel about us watching it?”

“He doesn’t mind. We’ll still find some time to watch it.” Hvitserk shrugged off his older brother’s concerns. “Next week, when we go to Ubbe’s for the party could you do me a favour?”

“Sure.”

“This year, when you introduce yourself.” He rubbed his hands anxiously on his sweats, wishing he had a handful of candy right now. “Instead of trying to explain that you’re my friend, can we tell people that you’re my girlfriend?”

“What?”

“Don’t answer that right now. I want you to answer, but you should think about it. I mean…I don’t want you to rush or if you don’t…this was not supposed to happen.” He rubbed his hands over his face. “I had planned this to be way cooler.”

“Oh, wow. Um, well.” You had to have saw this coming, right? Hvitserk made no effort to hide his affection, but you always thought it was because he was your best friend. A brother.

Wow.

“Sorry. I should have thought this through.”

“No.”

“No? Oh. Well, okay.”

“Yes. No. Yes.”

“I’m confused.”

“Me too.”

Pausing the movie, Hvitserk shifts uneasily in his seat. Way to ruin a perfectly good evening and now, possibly, a perfectly good friendship. In minutes, he would be seeing you out, never to see you again.

Way to fuck it up, Hvitserk.

“Let’s try this again. Yes. That’s all I have to say. Next week,” your grin gives it away, “I’ll introduce myself as your girlfriend. But,” you hold up a finger, “there is one condition.”

“Anything.”

“When we have dinner at my parent’s, the next week, you have to explain to them why this took so long.”

Sliding closer, Hvitserk’s arm drapes around your shoulder, holding you close to his side. “If that’s what it takes, I’ll even prepare a slide show.”

An entire slide show would be rich. Forget your parents, this was something you needed to see.


End file.
